Quality Scoring of the Fengyun 4A Clear Sky Radiance Product

The Clear Sky Radiance (CSR) product has been widely used instead of Level 1 (L1) geostationary imager data in data assimilation for numerical weather prediction due to its many advantages concerning superobservation methodology. In this study, CSR was produced in two water vapor channels (channels 9 and channel 10, with wavelengths at 5.8–6.7 μm and 6.9–7.3 μm) of the Advanced Geostationary Radiation Imager aboard Fengyun 4A. The root mean square error (RMSE) between CSR observations and backgrounds was used as a quality flag and was predicted by cloud cover, standard deviation (STD), surface type, and elevation of a CSR field of view (FOV). Then, a centesimal scoring system based on the predicted RMSE was set to a CSR FOV that indicates its percentile point in the quality distribution of the whole FOV. Validations of the scoring system demonstrated that the biases of the predicted RMSE were small for all FOVs and that the score was consistent with the predicted RMSE, especially for FOVs with high scores. We suggest using this score for quality control (QC) to replace the QC of cloud cover, STD, and elevation of CSR, and we propose 40 points as the QC threshold for the two channels, above which the predicted RMSE of a CSR is superior to the RMSE of averaged clear-sky L1 data.

The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on BMI in Children and Adolescents: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background:The COVID-19 pandemic created circumstances with the potential to increase rates of overweight and obesity. We aimed to assess whether there were significant increases in BMI among a sample of children and adolescents during the year 2020compared to the two years prior to the pandemic. Methods:For this retrospective cohort study, data was obtained from the electronic medical records of 8398 children 3-17 years of age who attended3 consecutive well visits between June 1 and October 31 in 2018, 2019 and 2020 in a single center in the Midwest. Generalized linear mixed models were used to calculate the differences in average BMI and obesityrates over the three years.Results:Between 2019 and 2020, the mean BMI for the whole sample increased 3.2 percentile points (from the 70·5th to the 73·7th percentile; p<0·001)compared to an increase of 0.8 percentile point between 2018 and 2019 (p=0·008). The proportion of children and adolescents with obesity rose from 13% in 2019 to 15·2% in 2020 (p<0·001) compared to no significant increasefrom 2018 to 2019. Significant disparities in BMI were observed between socioeconomic and ethnic groups.ConclusionsSignificant increases in BMI and obesity rates occurred in 2020 in this sample. We propose that the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic contributed significantly to these increases.

Analysis of Okun’s Regularity: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Economic growth, or, more precisely, GDP growth rate (Y) is the key macroeconomic indicator. Positive tendencies of GDP growth (r) mostly impact the economic welfare of the national economy. Hence, output is analysed in combination with other macroeconomic aggregates and indicators: investments, inflation, unemployment, trade exchange and the like. In the context of researching the relation between GDP trends and unemployment rate, A.M. Okun was the first to notice regularity between these variables. Okun’s law shows the direction and strength of GDP changes under the influence of (un)employment and represents functional relation between the output market and labour market. This paper aims to prove that, to a certain extent, there exists Okun’s regularity in Bosnian and Herzegovinian economy for the period of 2000-2019. The results of linear regression analysis show that there is negative correlation (R=0,451) between variables Y (output) and X (unemployment). Determination coefficient R2 = 0,204 indicates that 20,4% variations in GDP is determined by the changes in unemployment. Coefficient β in linear regression equation is negative, amounting to -0,596, which means that a change in unemployment by 1 percentile point brings about an inverse change in GDP by approximately 0,6 units. Variable direction indicates that there exists Okun’s regularity, though with significantly weaker intensity among the variables. This proves the hypothesis that there is a negative functional relation between the output market and labour market in Bosnia and Herzegovina.